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Transcript

Peacock calls an end to his US diplomatic role

AM Archive - Monday, 23 August , 1999 00:00:00

Reporter: Michael Carey

COMPERE: Australia is about to lose its best known and best connected diplomat. As he comes to the end of a three-year stint in Washington, Andrew Peacock has decided to call it a diplomatic day. He'd declined an offer of an extended term from the Australian Government, saying it's time to give the private sector a go. Washington correspondent Michael Carey reports:

MICHAEL CAREY: For a political appointment, Andrew Peacock received a surprising amount of bipartisan backing when his former rival John Howard first announced his intention of sending Mr Peacock to the top diplomatic job in Washington. It wasn't the former leader's ability to argue a case which made him a popular choice. He was never known for his policy edge, but his unmatched ability to work a room.

Andrew Peacock's network of contacts in the United States was remarkable long before he took the post, and it served him well in Washington. His social skills were rarely as evident as during the Prime Minister's recent visit to the US. At the barbecue thrown by the Ambassador Mr Howard was able to chat with US Secretary of State Madeleine Allbright, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbett, among other political A-list guests.

The east of that occasion stood in sharp contrast to the more awkward aspects of the visit, the Prime Minister being kept waiting in the rain by Bill Clinton, and more substantially, the overshadowing bad will provoked by the US decision to curb lamb imports. That White House decision to impose quotas and tariffs beyond those that even US trade advisers had recommended perhaps pointed to the limits of his ability to change minds, even if he could open any door.

It was during the Prime Minister's visit that Mr Peacock first informed Mr Howard that he wouldn't be staying on past the end of his first three-year term which ends in January. The Government had offered an extension. But at 60, having spent most of his life in politics with a successful stab at diplomacy, Andrew Peacock is looking to finish his career in business. Over the coming months he'll be deciding whether to pursue that in Australia or to remain in the United States.